University teams and dSPACE drive AI-powered autonomous racing innovation at CES 2025

The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) will feature multicar autonomous racing for the first time at CES 2025 on January 9, 2025, at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Ten university teams will compete in these races using AI drivers that must first be tested and qualified in a virtual environment provided by dSPACE.

dSPACE, a provider of simulation and validation solutions, is the official software-in-the-loop technology sponsor for the IAC. To support the competition, dSPACE is providing its SIMPHERA simulation solution, hosted on AWS Cloud, to enable teams to test and refine their AI driver software. SIMPHERA offers simulation models, test automation, and analysis tools, helping ensure the reliability and safety of autonomous vehicles.

Paul Mitchell, Chairman and President of Indy Autonomous Challenge, highlighted the importance of cloud-based simulation in advancing AI solutions from virtual testing to real-world application: 

Racing in the cloud services being developed in partnership with dSPACE is a powerful new tool that will accelerate the transfer of AI solutions from simulation to the race track.”

The multicar format increases the complexity for AI systems, requiring advanced testing before race day. Raimund Sprick, Senior Manager Automated Driving and Software Solutions at dSPACE, said:

"Leading up to the race, our goal is to achieve maximum sim-to-real validation and to test the AI driver software in increasingly complex scenarios. SIMPHERA, our web-based, highly scalable solution for simulating and validating autonomous driving functions, is tailor-made for this task,"

Teams are using a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) workflow via GitHub for collaborative development. The transition from two-vehicle to multicar races represents a significant advancement for the IAC, demanding higher precision and adaptability from AI systems.

Professor Madhur Behl, team principal of the University of Virginia's Cavalier Autonomous Racing team, emphasized the role of dSPACE’s technology in their preparation:

“Our collaboration with dSPACE has been instrumental in preparing for the IAC competition at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. We rely heavily on dSPACE SIMPHERA to run large-scale, cloud-based multi-agent simulations, refining our motion planning and control algorithms for high-speed overtaking maneuvers.

“Compared to our previous simulator setup, SIMPHERA has dramatically enhanced our ability to test and refine our stack efficiently. We can identify and resolve safety-critical bugs early, well before heading to Vegas, giving us the confidence to push the limits with higher speeds and more overtakes. The simulator’s real-world accuracy has continued to improve over the past few months. This allows us to arrive at the track fully prepared, maximizing practice time and streamlining the integration of our autonomous racing stack with the real car.”

The IAC event at CES 2025 will be open to attendees at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. An IAC race car will be displayed at the Las Vegas Convention Center, West Hall, and Raimund Sprick will present on “Indy Autonomous Challenge: Racing in the Cloud” on January 8 at the AWS Theater.